You Faked Your Death for Her？Great！I Had His Baby Chapter 06

You Faked Your Death for Her？Great！I Had His Baby Chapter 06

Seven days later.

On the Presidential Traverse, near the highest point of the ridge at just under two thousand meters,

one of the hikers stopped on a rocky slope.

Dense fog blanketed everything.

He could barely see a few feet in front of him.

“This should work.”

He pointed toward the steep ravine below.

“If someone fell here, their phone could stay up on the ridge, so the shared location would stay pinned to this slope.”

“Even if the SAR team comes, they’d have a hard time finding anything at the bottom of that

ravine.”

With a flick of his wrist, the phone vanished into the thick fog.

The signal was already cutting in and out.

Miles away, Ethan sat on the couch in a large suburban house.

He read the message from his hiking buddy, and the corner of his mouth lifted.

Soon Evelyn would notice that his last known location hadn’t moved.

Knowing her, she’d panic.

No matter how angry she was, she’d call.

She’d text.

Then she’d swallow her pride and contact his hiking buddies, crying as she asked what had happened to him.

But after half a day, his phone was still silent.

Ethan frowned and sent his hiking buddy a message.

[It’s been hours. Has Evelyn contacted any of you?]

The reply came almost immediately.

[No, Ethan. She hasn’t asked us a single thing these past few days.]

Ethan stared at the screen.

His fingers tapped against the arm of the couch.

Impossible.

Evelyn cared too much about him to stay silent.

Even if she was angry, how many days could she possibly keep it up?

It was fine.

Once his hiking buddies reported him missing and the news reached her, she’d panic.

Ethan tossed the phone aside and wrapped an arm around Sophie’s shoulders.

“Come on. I’m taking you somewhere nice for dinner.”

Sophie smiled sweetly and leaned into him.

Two days later, Ethan’s hiking buddies came off the Presidential Traverse and reported him missing exactly as planned.

“We got separated from one of our teammates on the Presidential Traverse. The fog was too

thick, and we couldn’t find him.”

“Last place we saw him was near a ravine by one of the trail markers.”

On the other end, the dispatcher began taking down the details.

After the call, one of the hiking buddies immediately texted Evelyn.

[Evelyn, something happened to Ethan. We got separated in the mountains. His shared location hasn’t moved, and we’ve reported him missing.]

Ten minutes passed.

No response.

He sent another message.

[Evelyn, please come. The search coordinator needs to speak with his emergency contact.]

Still nothing.

The hiking buddy called her.

Her phone was turned off.

He immediately messaged Ethan.

[Ethan, Evelyn’s phone is turned off. We can’t reach her.]

Ethan was watching the news when the message came in.

His brows pulled together.

Then a local headline flashed across the screen.

[Local Hiker Missing on Presidential Traverse, SAR Crews Search Through the Night]

The article used an old hiking photo of him.

More than a hundred thousand views already.

The comments were blowing up.

The corner of Ethan’s mouth lifted.

Now she’d seen it.

Maybe she was already booking a flight.

He knew Evelyn.

She’d plant herself outside the search–and–rescue command post.

Wait every day.

Cry every day.

Beg them every day not to stop looking.

That was why he’d specifically arranged for one of his hiking buddies to stay near the command

post.

If Evelyn showed up, he was supposed to stop her from doing something reckless and heading

into the backcountry herself.

Give her just enough hope to keep waiting.

Enough to make sure she didn’t do anything drastic

Convinced his plan had worked, Ethan went back to work.

By the next day, the story had been circulating for a full twenty–four hours.

Anyone who went online would’ve seen it.

But all Ethan got was another confused message from his hiking buddy.

[Ethan, didn’t you say Evelyn would come? She hasnt even asked one question. Does she seriously

not know what happened?]

Ethan stared at the message.

The cigarette between his fingers burned down far enough to sting him, and his hand jerked.

No.

Evelyn was a digital content editor.

The first thing she did every morning was scan trending stories across the internet.

A locally trending story with more than a million views?

There was no way she hadn’t seen it.

He crushed the cigarette into the ashtray and instinctively went looking for his message thread

with Evelyn.

Then he remembered.

New phone.

He didn’t have her contact information on it.

He got up, paced across the living room twice, then sat back down.

Sophie brought over a glass of water and sat beside him, resting her hand over his.

“Ethan, do you think Evelyn is… actually angry?”

Her voice was soft.

“Angry enough that she doesn’t want anything to do with you?”

Ethan said nothing.

“But she’s been with you for so many years.”

Sophie continued gently.

“Didn’t she say she’d wait for you no matter what you did?”

The words pricked at the last of Ethan’s confidence

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

Evelyn had always acted tough when she was softhearted.

The more she avoided something, the more it meant she cared.

Right.

He’d forgotten that.

Some people shut everything out when the pain became too much.

Give her a few more days.

Once she couldn’t hold it in anymore, she’d contact his hiking buddies.

She’d report him missing.

She’d cry and beg him to come home.

“Ethan.”

Sophie leaned closer, her stomach brushing lightly against his arm.

“The baby kicked again today. Want to feel?”

Ethan looked down at her stomach, which still wasn’t showing.